Former Phillie Ryan Howard retires

Former MLB first baseman Ryan Howard announced his retirement on Tuesday. Howard made the announcement in a post to The Players Tribune.

He has not played in an MLB game since the 2016 season. His entire Big League career from 2004 through 2016 was spent with the Philadelphia Phillies.

Ryan Howard hitting a home run with the Philadelphia Phillies (Getty Images)

In April 2017, he signed with the Atlanta Braves to a minor league contract. One month later, he was released by the team.

The Colorado Rockies signed him to a minor league deal in August 2017. He elected to become a free agent in November of that year.

As a member of the Phillies, he was a member of the 2008 World Series team. In addition, he was the National League MVP in 2006. He also was the National League Rookie of the Year in 2005.

He was also a two-time National League home run leader. In addition, he was also a three-time RBI leader.

During his Phillies career, he appeared in 1,572 games. He had a .258 batting average with 382 home runs and 1,194 RBIs in 5,707 at-bats. In the 2006 season, he had a career-high .313 batting average with 58 home runs and 149 RBIs.

Howard has the second-most home runs in Phillies history. He trails Mike Schmidt, who had 548 home runs in 2,404 games. The 58 home runs that he had in 2006 is the most home runs in a season by a Phillies player. In 2008, Howard hit 48 home runs, tying Schmidt’s home run record for most home runs in a season.